She Changes by Intrigue

Irony, Femininity and Feminism
Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-90-420-1607-1
Verlag: Brill | Rodopi

Buch, Englisch, Band 6, 252 Seiten, Format (B × H): 150 mm x 220 mm, Gewicht: 445 g

Reihe: GENUS: Gender in Modern Culture

Contemporary feminist theorists have implied a special affinity between women and irony because of their ‘double’ relation to the prevailing order of things: both speak from within this order while remaining ‘other’ to it in some way. Irony can be regarded as the obvious mode in which a feminist might speak, as it reflects her relation to the patriarchal structure while refusing to validate the truth of the current sexual hierarchy. She Changes by Intrigue undertakes the first sustained analysis of the parallels between irony, femininity and feminism. By retracing the association of these terms through canonical and contemporary continental philosophy, the book seeks to illuminate a notion of sexual agency that has until now remained shadowy, in spite of its prevalence.
Examining the recurrence of the ‘ironic feminine’ in texts by Kristeva, Hegel, Kierkegaard, Irigaray, Derrida and Kofman, it argues that a radical revaluation of the legacy of patriarchal thought in feminism is necessary before irony can be embraced as a feminist strategy. In this context, She Changes by Intrigue offers a new reading of what it means to write as a feminist ‘subject’.
This volume will be of interest to students and academics working in the fields of gender studies, continental philosophy and critical / cultural theory.

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturwissenschaften Kulturwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Feministische Philosophie, Gender Studies

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
The ‘Impossible Dialectic’: Julia Kristeva
The Anxiety of Irony: Søren Kierkegaard
Unsustainable Change? The Traps of Ironic Femininity
‘Irony and Something Else’: Jacques Derrida
Miming History: Jacques Derrida
Afterword: The Lesson of Irony, The Future of Feminism
Works Cited

Über Autor(innen)

Lydia Rainford is a Lecturer and Junior Research Fellow at St. Hugh’s College, the University of Oxford. She is the co-editor of Literature and Visual Technologies: Writing After Cinema (Palgrave, Macmillan, 2003).